Everyday we get questions about the ranch, from comments, emails and on facebook.
Sometimes we get the same question, over and over.
Today we answer some of the most popular questions on Our Wyoming Life.
Everyday around here starts out pretty much the same, well most days, yesterday started
with me trying to make coffee and Mackenzie looking out the window and hollering “theres
cows out!!”
She’s a bit dramatic, there were actually 3 calves that had slipped out of their corral,
took me a total of about a minute and a half to get them back in there, and the crisis
of the renegade calves was averted.
So aside from days where we have a gang of calves running amock, most days start out
the same.
I get up, grab a coffee, and I usually check the computer to see what messages we have
gotten overnight.
The overnight questions, comments and emails lots of times come from overseas, and they
can be very interesting at times, but I like to answer them, so I try to get that done
before I head out to feed and take care of animals.
This morning we also have to bring in cow that has developed a limp over the last couple
of days, its pretty bad, and I really feel sorry for her having to walk out to food every
day.
I’m not sure if she slipped and fell, or what happened but we can bring her in, and
do what we can for her and put her in a corral with food and water so she doesn’t have
to further injure herself walking all up and down the pastures.
While we are out working, my phone keeps dinging and vibrating with more messages and emails.
I hear it, but I can’t do anything about it.
I love answering them, but sometimes work comes first.
Now that we have her in, she needs a break.
I’m sure she’s hurting and we are going to bring her into the barn and get her some
medications but for right now we can rest and answer a couple of emails.
How big is the ranch?
This is one I get at least once a day, if not more.
My usual answer is around 5000 acres.
Kind of general, but not in a bad way, at least I don’t think.
When Erin and I first came to the ranch, no we weren’t raised ranchers, we actually
came here when her stepdad got sick and soon after he passed away, so here we are, anyway…
When we first came here, I remember asking a few ranchers that exact question, how many
acres do you have?
And I also remember them looking at me, and usually walking away.
I was a greenhorn, I probably still am, but I quickly learned that a question like that,
is considered in bad taste in these parts.
Gilbert, my father-in- law explained it best to me, he said.
I wouldn’t walk up to you and ask you how much money you have the bank, or how much
you make per year.
Now I’m not chewing anyone’s butt, but if you are going to be a ranch hand, you have
to talk like one.
That’s why I don’t mind answering the question, but I don’t say 7458 acres, I
just say, around 5000 and leave it at that.
Alright, lets move her up into the barn.
She’s had some time to chill and now its going to be into the head chute for her.
The head chute is just like the chute that you have seen us use during preg checking
except its just the head part.
No squeeze portion.
This device is just there to catch her head and hold her in place.
Lots of times we end up using this chute for doctoring on animals or if we have to help
a cow have a calf, this is where we do it.
As we lead her up she’s going to walk up and put her head through, then through her
natural motion she’s going to lock herself in place.
So how many animals on the ranch?
This question kind of ties in with the last one, but I don’t mind.
Again I may not give the exact number of cows that are out here, or the exact number of
calves but I can say that there are over 160 breeding cows, there are 4 bulls, a couple
of horses, a mess of chickens and ducks, 7 pigs, and 2 peacocks along with more barn
cats than you can shake a stick at.
It’s sometimes a lot to keep track off.
Ok, she is locked in the head chute, she’s calmed down a bit and now we can get a good
look at her and see if we can figure out what is going on .
This is number 92, she was born right here on the ranch on April 15, 2010 making her
7 years and 7 months old.
Her daddy was a big red angus bull that we had here at that time, number 542, we called
him Little Red.
She has had 6 calves for us, she is pregnant and her calves average about 72 lbs at birth.
According to my records, she has never had any health issues, she’s had her shots regularly
and has never had any aggressiveness issues.
Let’s take at her.
And as we could tell from when we were bringing her in, she is limping on her back foot, and
it actually looks like more of a hip issue than a foot issue.
Can I come work as a ranch hand?
This one we get a lot, and not only through comments and by email.
We have had people show up at the ranch, people from a long way away.
Now have had some folks come out that watch that happen to be coming through, we had a
great couple and their family come out from New York and hang out with Erin and I for
a few hours.
But just finding us, which apparently is not that hard to do, lots of folks in town are
happy to send people our way, I guess.
If you just show up looking for a job you are going to be disappointed.
Plus, it freaks Erin out and honestly scares her a bit.
So, stick to sending emails, I’ll answer you this way.
During the summer I usually hire a high school kid to help out, a couple of days a week,
and that’s if the ranch has the money to do it.
It helps me out and helps them out by letting them learn some skills that I honestly feel
you can’t learn anywhere but on the ranch.
I can’t afford to pay enough to help someone move here, and I surely don’t want you to
pack up your wife and 4 kids and move here based on a few days of work a week.
I’m flattered that people want to help, I really am, but there are legal issues like
insurance and workman’s comp to deal with as well plus you probably wouldn’t like
working with me anyway.
Having a boss that doesn’t know what he’s doing half the time, probably isn’t that
much fun.
Back to number 92 here, here hip is pretty inflamed so we are going to give her some
medication to manage the swelling called banamine.
Then we give her an injection of exceed, a pretty potent antibiotic to combat any infection
or anything else that may arise.
So
one question we get a lot is Why do you do this?
This question comes from all over the board, from the young to the old, to the vegan to
the die hard meat eater, and I think the question means different things coming from different
people.
The vegan, could be saying that its cruel and we shouldn’t be doing it.
The young might think its too much work and there are better ways to make money, which
trust me I know, I went from being a radio dj and a radio programmer making really good
money to this.
And maybe the older generations , they might just want to see better for us younger kids.
So when someone asks why I do this, I can tell them this one thing.
A promise.
Like I said earlier, we came to the ranch when Erins’ stepdad Gilbert started getting
sick and I worked with him for a few years before he passed away.
The only other person who knows this story is Erin so I’m going to let you in as well.
Gilbert passed away around noon on a Sunday, in a hospital in Casper.
That morning we knew he was going and I sat alone with him in his room from about 4 am
to 7 or so that morning.
We tried to make sure someone was with him at all times and everyone else was getting
a bit of rest.
Gilbert was in and out of it, he couldn’t talk but his eyes would open and he would
look at you.
I held his hand the whole time because we all knew that Gilbert, even the hard old rancher
he was, was scared to die.
As I held his hand I talked to him and I promised him that no matter what I would try my hardest
to make sure that his ranch would be around for years and years to come.
That I wouldn’t fail him and I would do anything I could to make sure that the ranch
was safe.
The ranch meant more to Gilbert than anything, the cows, the life, just being here would
make his eyes light up.
So I promised, and I meant it.
I remember him squeezing my hand so tight when I made that promise that I was a little
scared that he might hurt me or himself.
He died a few hours later, with his family, praying over him.
For me, a moment like that means more than any promise I had ever made in my life.
So that why I do this and that’s why I try to do it every day better than the last.
Because I made a promise to a dying man, who trusted us with his most prized possession.
The ranch.
And this cow.
Who is all done.
We will put her out in a corral for a few weeks and keep an eye on her and hope she
gets better with some rest.
She may need another shot of Banamine for any swelling or inflammation and if she does
she will get it.
Everyone deserves the best care, especially a cow that is our livelihood.
Help us form our community and spread a message, that hard work is its own reward and you wont
regret it.
Like us on facebook, share it, and a special thanks to those who support us on patreon,
where you can show your support for what we are doing for as little as one buck.
I will see you on Tuesday for our project list and we have a live stream scheduled for
Thursday night, lots coming up and we hope you can be there for all of it.
Have a great week and thanks for joining us, in our Wyoming life.